On Father's Day, Alan Beaman grateful for life's precious moments

Sunday

Jun 16, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 16, 2013 at 3:11 PM

At 40 years old, Alan Beaman is still experiencing firsts. Like holding down his first full-time job with benefits. And owning his first house and first reliable car. Until 2008, those were all well beyond the confines of Beaman’s prison cell.

INSIDE: Key dates

Chris Green

BELOW: Key dates

At 40 years old, Alan Beaman is still experiencing firsts.

Like holding down his first full-time job with benefits. And owning his first house and first reliable car.

Until 2008, those were all well beyond the confines of Beaman’s prison cell.

The Rockford native was convicted of murder in 1995, when he was 22, in connection with the death of Illinois State University student Jennifer Lockmiller. Beaman was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

The Illinois Supreme Court threw out the conviction in May 2008, saying prosecutors had violated Beaman’s constitutional rights. Beaman was released from prison almost exactly five years ago, on June 26, 2008.

Since then, it’s been that whirlwind of firsts.

“I’m playing catch-up,” he said. “It’s the hand I’ve been dealt. I’m not going to sit here and complain about the cards. I’m going to play them.”

“I named her Liberty,” Alan said, “to commemorate the notion that we’re a nation where there is liberty and justice for all.”

For him, it’s not just Father’s Day that’s precious. It’s every day that comes before and after, because Beaman now has the freedom to speak and come and go as he pleases.

“I told one of my attorneys once that a lot of effort and dedication went into making sure that I could complain about the price of gas and the speed of my hard drive. Some days real life takes over, and that’s how it is. The joys of life are accessible to me again, whereas many of them were kept from me for a long time.”

The 1990 Auburn graduate doesn’t sound bitter when he talks about what he’s gone through. Instead, he focuses on his appreciation for those who believed in his innocence and support his determination to right a wrong.

Beaman passed another milestone in April when central Illinois Judge Jeffrey Ford granted him a Certificate of Innocence.

How we got here
Jennifer Lockmiller was found dead Aug. 28, 1993, in her apartment in Normal. The Decatur native, 22, was Beaman’s former girlfriend.

Prosecutors accused Beaman, a 21-year-old Illinois Wesleyan University theater student, of killing Lockmiller in a fit of jealousy, strangling her with a clock radio cord and stabbing her in the chest with a pair of scissors.

Three sets of fingerprints, including Beaman’s, were found on the clock radio. He was arrested in May 1994.

Prosecutors said Beaman killed Lockmiller because his former Wesleyan roommate, Michael Swaine, had moved in with her.

Beaman has always said he was 130 miles away at his parents’ home in Rockford at the time of the slaying.

A jury deliberated for 20 hours, then declared Beaman guilty. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Attorneys from the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University took up Beaman’s cause. It was later disclosed that during the trial, the prosecution withheld information regarding other suspects.

Gretchen was aware of Alan’s past; they met in church and later started dating.

“Just reading about it for years, and you just kind of get a feeling,” she said.

“I worked with somebody who had done shows with him at Starlight (Theatre at Rock Valley College) back when he was in his teens. I remember making a comment when the news was that he was released and out of prison. And I remember saying something like, that’s just horrible what happened to him. And she was, like, ‘Alan? I’ve known him since he was 13, and I knew he never did it.’ And just meeting people who knew him helped confirm what I always thought.”

The stigma
On May 22, 2008, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Beaman’s conviction, ruling that the prosecution had withheld evidence that would likely have changed the jury’s verdict.

Beaman was released a month later.

The Certificate of Innocence he received recently is a further tangible means of removing doubt from the minds of the public.

“The stigma never quite goes away,” he said. “There’s still people out there who say, ‘Well, he was convicted by a jury of his peers.’ And these are probably the same people who don’t like the fact that O.J. was acquitted by a jury of his peers.”

Every day, especially Father’s Day, is more enjoyable for Beaman’s father, Barry, and the entire family.

“Just having him around now is wonderful,” he said. “We enjoy being with him and Gretchen. The family is whole now.

“The Certificate of Innocence is the end of the line as far as the criminal case in concerned. It’s over. We knew it was coming. We expected it, and it’s real. With us, we didn’t need a Certificate of Innocence, but other people do.”

The declaration also allows Beaman to collect about $175,000 from the state court of claims as an exonerated person.

Beaman, a machinist at Gleason Cutting Tool, has two more legal hurdles. But this time, he is on the offensive.

He has accused former State’s Attorney Charles Reynard, former prosecutor James Souk, four police officers, McLean County and the town of Normal of violating his civil rights and of prosecutorial misconduct.

Beaman also is seeking clemency for the murder conviction — a declaration by the governor that could insulate Beaman from facing charges again in Lockmiller’s death.

‘A great service’
Beaman is one of many wrongly convicted individuals over the years to experience “justice delayed is justice denied.”

The National Registry of Exonerations — launched May 21, 2012, as a joint project of the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law — listed 1,050 exonerations as of Dec. 31, 2012.

The 13 years Beaman spent in prison robbed him of his chance to walk across the stage to receive his college diploma. He couldn’t attend the funerals of three grandparents. He missed scores of other family events.

“The things I have had to do, as far as the legal system, to pursue vindication and accountability and all that, they haven’t been personal vendettas. They’re just things that I should do as an American citizen to hold my government accountable and improve the quality of our (legal) system.”

Even after what he’s been through, Beaman calls the American legal system “the best in the world.” And he said the corrective steps he’s taking help keep the bitterness at bay.

“Frankly, it would be irresponsible not to try to correct it.”

During our interview, Gretchen cradles and rocks Adelaide. Once “Baby Liberty” learns to walk, she may prove to be more elusive than the liberty Beaman sought for 13 years.

“She is the child that would not have existed if not for the effort and dedication and the fight of Northwestern University Law School,” Alan said. “They did a great service to me and for my family.

“My wife and I said the other day, the only thing that makes you happier than hearing your child giggle is hearing your other child make your child giggle.”

Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen

Key dates
Aug. 25, 1993: College student Jennifer Lockmiller slain in her apartment near Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal.
May 17, 1994: Alan Beaman charged with murder.
March 16, 1995: Beaman trial begins.
April 1, 1995: After 20 hours of deliberation, a jury convicts Beaman of murder. A judge later sentences him to 50 years in prison.
May 23, 1996: 4th District Appellate Court, based in Springfield, upholds Beaman’s conviction.
Nov. 3, 2006: 4th District again upholds his conviction.
Jan. 15, 2008: Illinois Supreme Court hears Beaman’s appeal.
May 22, 2008: Illinois Supreme Court overturns Beaman’s conviction.
June 26, 2008: Beaman released from jail.
May 2009: Beaman’s court records are expunged.
April 25, 2013: A Certificate of Innocence is granted.